# EUR-Lex - 52013PC0315 - EN

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# 52013PC0315

**Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the deployment of the interoperable EU-wide eCall /* COM/2013/0315 final - 2013/0166 (COD) */**

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EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM

1.           CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

This proposal addresses the part concerning
the Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) infrastructure in the Commission
strategy on eCall, based on a three-pronged regulatory approach encompassing the
in-vehicle system, the telecommunications networks and the PSAPs.

1.1.        General context

Road safety is one of the major elements of
the European Union’s transport policy. In 2011 around 30 000 people were killed
and more than 1.5 million injured in about 1.1 million traffic accidents on EU
roads. In addition to the tragedy of loss of life and injury, this also carries
an economic burden of around EUR 130 billion in costs to society every year. The
EU is fully committed to reducing the number of road accidents (through accident
prevention or active safety), mitigating the consequences of accidents when
they occur (passive safety), and improving the efficiency of the emergency
services and the effectiveness of post-accident medical care (tertiary safety).
In this context, eCall can significantly contribute to the reduction of road
fatalities and alleviation of severity of road injuries.

Every minute is crucial to save lives and
reduce the severity of injuries when emergency services are called to a road
accident. eCall devices alert emergency services immediately, even if the
driver or passenger is unconscious or otherwise unable to call, and speed up
the arrival of emergency teams by an estimated 40% in urban areas and 50% in
rural areas. eCall can also have a significant impact on the reduction of the
congestion caused by the traffic accidents and thus the overall congestion of
the European roads.

Therefore, the harmonised implementation of
an interoperable EU-wide eCall service in the EU has been in the agenda of the
Commission since 2005 and has become now a priority action for the improvement
of road safety and the deployment of ITS in Europe.

As part of a voluntary deployment approach,
the Commission in its 2005 Communication — entitled ‘Bringing eCall to Citizens’[1] — strongly urged national and
regional governments to act and to invest in the necessary emergency
infrastructure for eCall, with a view to launching the full pan-European
service in 2009. The Commission also asked the European Standardisation Organisations
(ETSI, CEN) to draw up the necessary common European standards and provided
support to this end.

On 21 August 2009 the Communication ‘eCall:
Time for Deployment’[2]
reported on the progress in introducing eCall and concluded that the voluntary
approach had not been sufficient. The Commission indicated that unless
significant progress was made by the end of 2009, it would consider regulatory
measures to ensure that eCall standard equipment was installed in all new
vehicles in Europe, starting with certain categories (passenger cars and light
commercial vehicles).

In August 2010, Directive 2010/40/EU of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the framework for the
deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of road transport and
for interfaces with other modes of transport[3]
entered into force with ‘harmonised provision for an interoperable EU-wide
eCall’ as one of the six priority actions identified for the adoption of
specifications.

In its non-legislative resolution ‘report
on eCall: a new 112 service for citizens’[4]
adopted on 3 July 2012, the European Parliament stated the following:

–
‘Considers that eCall should be a public EU-wide
emergency call system, embedded in the vehicle and based on 112 and on common
pan-European standards’,

–
‘Recalls that the Commission’s impact assessment
shows that the adoption of regulatory measures to enforce the mandatory
introduction of eCall is at present the only option to achieve all positive
effects’,

–
‘Urges the Commission to submit a proposal
within the framework of Directive 2007/46/EC in order to ensure the mandatory
deployment of a public, 112-based eCall system by 2015 in all new type-approved
cars and in all Member States’,

–
‘Welcomes the Commission’s recommendation of 8
September 2011, and urges the Member States and the Mobile Network Operators
(MNOs) to implement its required measures and upgrades at the latest by the end
of 2014; regrets, however, that only 18 Member States responded in time; calls
on the remaining Member States to do so as soon as possible’,

–
‘Urges the Commission to adopt the common
specifications for PSAPs within the framework of the ITS Directive by the end
of 2012, and to propose a directive on the implementation of eCall’.

The deployment of eCall will also constitute
a delivery of the CARS 2020 Action Plan, which is included in the Communication
of 8 November 2012 ‘CARS 2020: Action Plan for a competitive and sustainable
automotive industry in Europe’[5].

On 26 November 2012, the Commission adopted
the Delegated Regulation (EU) No 305/2013 supplementing Directive 2010/40/EU of
the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the harmonised
provision for an interoperable EU-wide eCall[6]
which establishes the specifications for upgrading the Public Safety Answering
Point (PSAP) infrastructure required for the proper receipt and handling of
eCalls, in order to ensure the compatibility, interoperability and continuity
of the harmonised EU-wide eCall service.

1.2.        Grounds for the proposal

Given the absence of any significant
progress in the voluntary deployment of eCall by the end of 2009, the
Commission decided to conduct an Impact Assessment in order to assess the most
appropriate policy option to implement the EU-wide eCall service in Europe.

As explained in the Impact Assessment[7], eCall requires three types of
measures: the fitting of a specific system in vehicles, the ability of mobile
network operators to transmit messages in a certain format and, lastly, the
capacity of the emergency call response centres (also known as PSAPs — Public
Safety Answering Points) to handle these messages. The system can only be
operational if all three parts are in operation simultaneously.

The Impact Assessment concluded that the
best option to implement eCall effectively is a ‘regulatory’ approach. eCall will
then be based on the installation of type-approved equipment for the Single
European Emergency Number 112 in all vehicles, starting with certain categories
of vehicles, and a framework for handling eCalls in the telecommunication
networks and PSAPs. This approach will make eCall available to all citizens in Europe as an EU-wide service, accelerate take-up and realise the full potential of eCall to
save lives and mitigate the severity of injuries. Building on or coexisting
with this 112 standard factory equipment, additional in-vehicle emergency
and/or added value services may be provided to the end-user giving further
safety and economic benefits.

Accordingly, the Commission unveiled on 8
September 2011 its strategy on regulatory measures for eCall, together with the
adoption of the first part of this strategy, which consisted of a Commission
Recommendation[8]
on support for an EU-wide eCall service in electronic communication networks
for the transmission of in-vehicle emergency calls based on 112 (‘eCalls’).

In order to complete the implementation of
its eCall strategy and ensure timely and parallel implementation of the eCall
service based on 112 by the three stakeholder groups involved (mobile network
operators, public emergency services and automotive industry) by 2015, the
Commission proposes the following:

–
In-vehicle system: a proposal under the
framework provided by Directive 2007/46/EC to mandate eCall in all new types of
M1 and N1 vehicles (passenger cars and light duty vehicles).

–
Mobile communication networks: the
above-mentioned eCall Commission Recommendation.

–
Public Safety Answering Points: the adoption of the
above mentioned Delegated Regulation as a delegated act under Directive
2010/40/EU in order to address the specifications for the PSAPs.

Article 6(2) of Directive 2010/40/EU requests
the Commission to present at the latest 12 months after the adoption of the
necessary specifications for a priority action, where appropriate and after
conducting an impact assessment including a cost-benefit analysis, a proposal
to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with Article 294 of
the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) on the deployment of
that priority action.

This is the specific object of this proposal,
which completes the ‘PSAP’ part of the Commission strategy on eCall.

These different texts are complementary and
together will allow for the 112 eCall service to be fully operational by 1
October 2015.

2.           RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE
INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

2.1.        Consultations with
interested parties

This proposal is the result of extensive
consultations with major stakeholders:

It takes into consideration all the
consultations in the course of the eCall Impact Assessment. These included, in
particular, extensive contributions from stakeholders involved in several fora
such as the European eCall Implementation Platform (EeIP), the eCall PSAPs Expert
Group and the eCall Driving Group within the eSafety/i-Mobility Forum, and a
public consultation on the implementation of eCall from 19 July to 19 September
2010.

The proposal also takes into account the
discussions in the meetings held with experts from Member States, EEA countries
and Switzerland on 13 October 2011, 29 May, 19 June and 03 July 2012 to prepare
the specifications for the PSAPs. These meetings were also attended by
representatives from the European Parliament and the European Data Protection
Supervisor[9].

Finally, this proposal also takes into
consideration the opinion of the European ITS Advisory Group, composed of 25
high level representatives from ITS service providers, associations of users,
transport and facilities operators, manufacturing industry, social partners,
professional associations, local authorities and other relevant fora[10].

2.2.        Impact assessment and
cost-benefit analysis

An extensive cost-benefit analysis was
conducted as part of the eCall Impact Assessment for the three proposed
options, including the preferred option on regulatory measures.

As far as the cost-benefit analysis of the
chosen option (option 3) is concerned, each of the three planned eCall
regulatory measures (in-vehicle, telecommunication, PSAP) is inseparable from
the other two. While costs for the PSAPs can be estimated separately from the in-vehicle
and telecommunication parts of eCall, the benefits can be estimated only for
the whole eCall initiative.

2.2.1.     Analysis of main costs for
PSAPs

The marginal costs of handling the 112
eCalls for each PSAP equipped to handle 112 calls enhanced with location
capabilities — E112 calls (obligation under the Universal Service Directive[11])
— cover the following:

–
In-band modem server (from €3 000 to €20 000,
depending on the number of eCalls)

–
Software to decode the MSD (minimum set of data)
and integration with the PSAP software

–
Training

Annual operational costs should be added to
these costs. Where the eCalls will be received in a PSAP that also receives other
emergency calls, the majority of these costs will be subsumed within the normal
operational costs. Otherwise they will depend on the number of operators needed
to handle the estimated number of eCalls[12].

The estimated costs of upgrading PSAPs
average around EUR 1.1 million per Member State[13]. This estimate derives from a
cluster analysis based on the density of population of the country, accident typologies,
road and emergency response infrastructures, and other general statistics. The
cost in each country varies considerably depending on the number of PSAPs, but
also on the technical solution chosen for upgrading the PSAPs.

Additional information on costs was
provided by the HeERO pre-deployment pilot[14]
(Jan. 2011 to Jan. 2013) which involved the authorities of nine Member States and associated countries, as well as forty partners. The objective of the
project was to prepare for the deployment of the necessary infrastructure,
including the start-up of an interoperable, harmonised 112-based in-vehicle
emergency call system. The project will be followed up by the HeERO2 pilot launched
in early 2013 and that will run for 24 months, involving an additional nine Member States and associated countries.

The HeERO pilot has helped to demonstrate
that innovative solutions can reduce costs in comparison to the rather conservative
approach followed in the eCall impact assessment, especially for those Member
States where there are a large number of PSAPs. It also confirmed that the
estimated and real costs of implementation were within the expected ranges.

2.2.2.     Analysis of main benefits

The benefits identified in the impact
assessment and several studies, including national ones, include:

–
Reduction in fatalities (with all vehicles
eCall-equipped, between 1% and 10% depending on country population density and road
and emergency response infrastructure)[15].

–
Reduction in the seriousness of the injuries (between
2% and 15%)[16].

–
Reduction in congestion costs caused by traffic
accidents. This is due to improved accident management, as the accident is
immediately notified to the PSAPs and can therefore be transferred to the
appropriate Traffic Management Control, which can immediately inform other road
users, and help reduce secondary accidents.

–
Facilitation of rescue services and increased
security of rescue team (e.g. fire-fighters) when extracting trapped occupants,
as the MSD will, among other things, provide information on the fuel type.

–
Reduced SOS roadside infrastructure, as each
road user would be able to trigger an emergency call from their vehicle.

2.2.3.     Cost–benefit ratio

Benefits have also been monetised[17] and a cost-benefit analysis
drawn up for the different options and for types of affected categories. The estimations are calculated up to year 2033 as this is the expected
year of full penetration of the eCall service under the preferred policy option.

|| Policy option 1 No EU action || Policy Option 2 Voluntary approach || Policy Option 3 Regulatory measures

Benefit-Cost Ratio || 0.29 || 0.68 || 1.74

3.           LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL

3.1.        Legal basis

Article 6(2) of Directive 2010/40/EU
requires the Commission to present at the latest 12 months after the adoption
of the necessary specifications for a priority action, where appropriate and
after conducting an impact assessment including a cost-benefit analysis, a
proposal to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with Article
294 TFEU on the deployment of these specifications.

3.2.        Subsidiarity and
proportionality

According to the principle of subsidiarity
(Article 5(3) of the Treaty on European Union), action at EU level should be
taken only when the aims envisaged cannot be achieved sufficiently by Member
States alone and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the
proposed action, be better achieved by the EU.

Road safety is an issue of major concern
across the entire European Union and for all of its inhabitants: 500 million
citizens in the 27 Member States use more than 230 million vehicles on over 5
million km of roads. The purpose of the interoperable EU-wide eCall initiative is
ultimately to introduce in all vehicles in Europe the minimum functionalities
needed to ensure adequate handling of emergency calls by the emergency response
services. Currently, there are more than 100 million road journeys every year across
the various Member States and the number is increasing due to further consolidation
of the European Union (through the free movement of goods, people and
services). Action is needed at EU level in order to guarantee interoperability
and continuity of the service throughout Europe, which cannot be satisfactorily
achieved by individual Member States alone. Moreover, taking action at EU level
using common European eCall standards approved by the European Standardisation
Organisations (CEN and ETSI) will ensure efficient provision of the emergency
response service across Europe, for example in the case of vehicles travelling
abroad, and also help to avoid market fragmentation (which may occur as a
result of the proliferation of national and/or proprietary private solutions
implemented in differing ways).

The EU-wide eCall, in line with 112 and
E112 deployment, has been designed in such a way as to minimise the impact on
all stakeholders in the value chain (automotive industry, mobile network
operators, Member States, PSAPs), and to distribute this impact fairly.

The current proposal calls on Member States
to deploy the necessary eCall PSAP infrastructure required
for the proper receipt and handling of all eCalls on their territory, in accordance with the specifications laid down by Commission
Delegated Regulation (EU) No 305/2013 of 26 November 2012 supplementing
Directive 2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard
to harmonised provision for an interoperable EU-wide eCall, in order to ensure
the compatibility, interoperability and continuity of the EU-wide eCall service.
The plan is to keep the financial and administrative costs for
national/regional authorities to a minimum, commensurate with the objectives to
be achieved. A substantial part of implementation (organisation of the PSAPs)
is left to national decision-making bodies. The PSAPs infrastructure will be upgraded
by the Member States in a manner best suited to their national/local
architecture, thereby respecting the specific issues and circumstances that apply
in each Member State. Each Member State will be able to organise its emergency
services in the way most cost effective and appropriate to its needs, including
the possibility to filter calls that are not emergency calls and may not be
handled by eCall PSAPs, in particular in the case of manually triggered eCalls.

3.3.        Detailed explanation of
the proposal

Article 1 requires the
Member States to deploy the necessary eCall PSAP infrastructure required for the proper receipt and
handling of all eCalls on their territory no later than 1 October 2015.

Article 2 requires the
Member States to report to the Commission on the state of implementation of
this Decision 18 months at the latest after the entry
into force of this Decision.

Article 3 provides for the
Decision to enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

4.           BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

There are no budgetary
implications for the EU budget.

5.           OPTIONAL ELEMENTS

·
European Economic Area

The proposed act concerns an EEA matter and
should therefore extend to the European Economic Area.

2013/0166 (COD)

Proposal for a

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the deployment of the interoperable
EU-wide eCall

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 91 thereof,

Having regard to the
proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of
the draft legislative act to the national Parliaments,

Having regard to the
opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee[18],

Having regard to the
opinion of the Committee of the Regions[19],

Acting in accordance
with the ordinary legislative procedure,

Whereas:

(1)       Under Article 3(d) of Directive
2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the
framework for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of
road transport and for interfaces with other modes of transport[20],
the harmonised provision for an interoperable EU-wide eCall service constitutes
a priority action for the development and use of specifications and standards.

(2)       Article 6 of Directive
2010/40/EU requires the Commission to adopt delegated acts as regards
specifications necessary to ensure compatibility, interoperability and
continuity for the deployment and operational use of intelligent transport
systems (ITS) for the priority actions.

(3)       Commission Delegated
Regulation (EU) No 305/2013 of 26 November 2012 supplementing Directive
2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the
harmonised provision for an interoperable EU-wide eCall[21] establishes the specifications
for upgrading the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) infrastructure required
for the proper receipt and handling of eCalls, in order to ensure the
compatibility, interoperability and continuity of the harmonised EU-wide eCall
service.

(4)       Article 6(2) of Directive
2010/40/EU requires the Commission to present at the latest 12 months after the
adoption of the above-mentioned Delegated Regulation, where appropriate and
after conducting an impact assessment including a cost-benefit analysis, a
proposal to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with Article
294 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on the deployment of
these specifications.

(5)       It is expected that, by
reducing the response time of the emergency services, the interoperable EU-wide
eCall service will reduce the number of fatalities in the Union as well as the
severity of injuries caused by road accidents. The interoperable EU-wide eCall
service is also expected to bring savings to society by improving incident
management and by reducing road congestion and secondary accidents.

(6)       In order to ensure the interoperability
and continuity of the service throughout the Union, and reduce the costs of
implementation for the Union as a whole, it is necessary that all Member States
deploy the eCall priority action in accordance with the common specifications
established in Delegated Regulation (EU) No 305/2013. This should be without
prejudice to the right of each Member State to deploy additional technical
means to handle other emergency calls.

(7)       As experienced with other
emergency calls systems, manually triggered eCalls may include a share of
assistance calls. If necessary, Member States may implement all appropriate
technical and organisational means in order to filter these assistance calls to
ensure that only real emergency calls are handled by eCall PSAPs.

(8)       Since the objective of
this Decision, namely to ensure the coordinated and coherent deployment of the
interoperable EU-wide eCall service and to guarantee
interoperability and continuity of the service throughout Europe, cannot
be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and/or the private sector and can
therefore, by reason of its scale and effects, be better achieved at Union
level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of
subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In
accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article,
this Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that
objective,

HAVE ADOPTED
THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Member States shall deploy no later than 1
October 2015 the necessary eCall PSAP infrastructure required
for the proper receipt and handling of all eCalls, if necessary purged of
non-emergency calls, on their territory, in
accordance with the specifications laid down by Delegated Regulation
(EU) No 305/2013, in order to ensure the compatibility, interoperability and
continuity of the interoperable EU-wide eCall service. This is without
prejudice to the right of each Member State to organise its emergency services
in the way most cost effective and appropriate to its needs, including the
possibility to filter calls that are not emergency calls and may not be handled
by eCall PSAPs, in particular in the case of manually triggered eCalls.

Article 2

At the latest 18 months after the entry
into force of this Decision, Member States shall
report to the Commission on the state of implementation of this Decision. This
report shall include at least the list of competent authorities for assessing
the conformity of the operations of the eCall PSAPs with the requirements
listed in Article 3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 305/2013, the list and
geographical coverage of the eCall PSAPs, the description of the conformance
tests and the description of the privacy and data protection protocols.

Article 3

This Decision shall
enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official
Journal of the European Union.

Article 4

This Decision is
addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For the
European Parliament                       For the Council

The President                                                 The
President

[1]               COM(2005) 431 final

[2]               COM(2009) 434

[3]               OJ L 207, 6.8.2010, p. 1.

[4]               P7_TA(2012)0274

[5]               COM(2012) 636 final

[6]               OJ L 91, 3.4.2013, p. 1.

[7]               SEC(2011) 1019 final

[8]               2011/750/EU

[9]               See agenda and summary record

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=1941

[10]             http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=2736

[11]             Directive 2002/22/EC, Art. 26

[12]             SEC(2011) 1019 final, Annex III

[13]             SEC(2011) 1019 final, Annex XIV

[14]             http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/apps/projects/factsheet/index.cfm?project_ref=270906

[15]             SEiSS, E-MERGE, eIMPACT, AINO studies. For a more
detailed analysis on the calculation, please see Annex IV of the eCall Impact
Assessment.

[16]             SEiSS, E-MERGE, eIMPACT, AINO studies. For a more
detailed analysis on the calculation, please see Annex IV of the eCall Impact
Assessment.

[17]             SEC(2011) 1019 final, Annexes IV and XIV

[18]             OJ C , , p. .

[19]             OJ C , , p. .

[20]             OJ L 207, 6.8.2010, p. 1.

[21]             OJ L 91, 3.4.2013, p. 1.